'The Last Train' is a Halloween-esq animated short movie that was made as part of The Animation Hub, a collaboration between staff and students of the Irish School of Animation at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, staff and students of Trinity College’s Graphics, Vision and Visualisation Group and the recently established animation studio Giant Creative, set up by Ballyfermot graduates.

Andre De Freitas combines his photography background with illustration by creating this horrifying Zombie Portrait series of paintings. Included in the series are these festering classic cartoon characters...

From Laika studio a new stop-motion comedy/thriller titled 'ParaNorman'. 'ParaNorma' is being directed by Chris Butler (Corpse Bride, Coraline) and Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux, Flushed Away). It's not due out until August of 2012, but I’m pretty excited about this one already. Here I've posted the first sneak peek trailer and some striking poster art.

Synopsis: Norman, a misunderstood boy, is the only kid in town who can speak with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and moronic grown-ups in order to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

It would have been brilliant to sit in on the pitch for this Music video, I can’t imagine director Keith Schofield thought Duck Sauce (aka A-Trak and Armand Van Helden) would go for such a zany and disturbing idea, but they did...

”When Keith came up with this idea of ‘crotchfaces,’ we just thought it was hilarious. He wasn’t sure if we’d be down to play the leads, but our take on this was, if we’re going to do this, we need to go all the way. So we played the dickheads.”

Fantastic clay animation from CalArts graduate Allison Schulnik. The lumpy smeared figures in her new short 'Mound' unashamedly embraces the limitations and uniqueness of the materials used, I love its honest simplicity.

Robert projects his swirling colourful animated loop onto the shattered remnants of 19th century plaster casts of Kladeos, Kephissos, Belvedere Torso, Seer and the Three Goddesses from the Bernhard August von Lindenau Collection. The plaster casts that still resemble body parts appear clothed by the projection, whilst the fragmented unrecognisable sections compound the abstract qualities of the projection.

‘Folds’ looks stunning on film. I can only imagine how fantastic this looked in the flesh.

Seidel’s artist statement:

“The work folds for the Lindenau Museum (Altenburg, Germany) may be understood as a rapprochement with the history of the museum’s collection of plaster casts. I was particularly interested in the ancient, fragmented bodies – how through the loss of limbs they became almost abstract, fragmentary sculptures and yet still disclosed a nearly uncanny vitality. Also noteworthy is that the collection entails sculptures, Greek in origin, that have been replicated time and time again. Hewn from marble and partially painted in color, the originals were repeatedly copied in marble or plaster in different places across centuries, despoiled of color and slurred in detail.

Despite these multiple re-shapings that attend the loss of the original’s memory, new meanings and frictions arise with each copy in each respective present. They are the precondition for over 2400 years of the ongoing revitalization of the legacy of antiquity. The fold, a continually recurring visual and conceptual motif in my works, is for me the pictorial metaphor for these layers and distortions of meaning. In the projection the fold becomes connected to the fragmentary sculptures, swirls around them, makes them flow with bygone colors, protects or clothes them, gives them peace and lets them come alive for a moment, in order then to be stored as a further layer in the sediment of oblivion.”

SketchTravel, an idea that he hatched with illustrator Gérald Guerlais, and which features the participation of 71 of the world’s most well known illustrators, comic artists and animators, finally came to an end on the 17th of October.

The auction of the original sketchbook artwork raised over $100,000 for charity. Its entire proceeds will go towards building libraries in third world countries in partnership with a child literacy non-profit organisation Room to Read. A printed version of the book is now available in France, too.

To support the SketchTravel project, Dice made the following animated short using his colour scripting technique:

It always seems to take forever for Studio Ghibli films to reach UK cinema screens. There was a very limited release if the Japanese language version earlier this year, but an English dub should be widely released in February 2012. Check out this poster (with a slight name change) for Disney’s latest Studio Ghibli release, ‘The Secret World Of Arriety’.

Ten years ago, Kid Acne and Supreme Vagabond Craftsman published a collection of their comic strip ‘Zebra Face’. The book followed the adventures of Zebra Face, a rubbish superhero, and his side kick Durable Mouth Organ as they battled evil with only rudimentary rhyme skills as their ‘special powers’.

At the time of the books release there was much talk of an animated series with various MCs doing the characters’ voices. Ten years later and an animated series has finally been given the green light with the first episode due for release in 2012. I can’t wait.

Kid Acne still has some copies of the ‘Zebra Face’ book available in his online store, I suggest you BUY IT NOW!

"'Sync' is based on the idea that there is an underlying unchanging synchronisation at the centre of everything; a sync that was decided at the very beginning of time. Everything follows from it, everything is ruled by it: all time, all physics, all life. And all animation."

Back in early September I posted Nir Philosof's graduation film 'Many Faces' from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Without doubt it was the most viewed post of September on the Animated Review. Nir recently uploaded an older animated short from earlier in his studies, co-directed with fellow student Reut Bortz and I thought I'd share it with you here. 'Joined Together' expresses how Jerusalem may be like in the year 2111.

"In ancient times, over 3000 years ago, religious extremists led the Hebrew nation into war and the land of Israel separated into two, very different, jewish states.
But the fact that it happened once before, does not necessarily mean it won't happen again. More so, this might be the fate of other places in the world, if we let the bad seeds impose themselves on the rest of the population.

This project expresses a vision of a possible future of Jerusalem, as seen through our eyes. We look at it as a warning sign and at same time as a glimpse of hope, that Jerusalem will remain an inviting city for people of all races and religions."

The Phineas and Ferb 'Animatin' rap music video is a humorous take on a day in the life of the show's co-creators and producers, Dan Povenmire and Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh as animators. 'Phineas and Ferb' is one of my favourite shows currently on TV, recently they celebrated the premiere of its first feature length movie, 'Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension'. The humour in this video is typical of the show and one of the many reasons it’s so brilliant.

Devised, created and directed by Jim Le Fevre, check out this behind the scenes and rough cut of the Phonotropia title sequence for the forthcoming BBC docu-drama ‘Holy Flying Circus’. The Phonotrope, devised by Jim over 5 years ago works on a similar principle to a Zoetrope with a record player spinning at a fixed speed (45 revolutions per minute) and a camera filming at a fixed speed (25 frames per second) and a sequence of pictures laid out around the circumference which, when filmed, create the illusion of animation. The Phonotropia sequence for the 'Holy Flying Circus' opening titles feature Terry Gilliam-esq animation.

Check this fun trailer for the new Weetabix app designed and animated by London based studio Yum Yum. The fantastic Brian Blessed provides the voice for James Bartholomew Excelsior the 1st aka Nibbles...

The Google doodle this week on October 21 marked the 100th anniversary of animation legend Mary Blair’s birth. Google honored her with the above illustration drawn by Mike Dutton.

Blair, who was born in Oklahoma on 21 October 1911, was best known for the artwork she contributed to films including Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Cinderella. Blair's colourful, childlike images are credited with bringing modern art into popular animation and influencing a generation of illustrators.

Walt Disney was so taken with her designs that he recruited her to work on It's A Small World, an attraction that debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair and has since been recreated in all of Disney's theme parks. Other theme park commissions for Blair include giant murals at Disneyland and Disney World.

Tigersushi present the anime-inspired music video for DyE's new track, 'Fantasy'. Directed by french animator Jérémie Périn, the video tells the story of a group of highschool kids ready for teenage mischief. They break into the local swimming pool for a session of innocent night swimming...

Be warned this music video is pretty grim, not for the faint of heart. I'm making it my second official Halloween post of 2011.

I first became aware of Kagami's work through the band Deerhoof whose album 'Milk Man' was inspired by Kagami's work and features one of his illustrations on the sleeve. These cartoon sculptures are typical of his style, I don't think I’ll every see Charlie Brown and Snoopy in the same light again.

"Kagami’s distinctive works are characterized by their simple expression of conflicting ideas. Pure and virginal plastic and soft toys created for babies and children are boldly combined with objects, which represent sex, violence and excrement. These two worlds, which naturally never crossover, merge and transform objects into giggle-inducing, amiable, yet bizarre pieces of art which invoke a horrific, natural human instinct. This is achieved through Kagami’s sharp sense of colour, form and pure ideas."

Three new DVD titles from the people at the British Animation Awards were released this week, continuing their 'Box Of Delights' series with volumes 3, 4 and 5. 'Box Of Delights' specialises in animated shorts for adults and kid alike, with films from Mirai Mizue, Sylvian Ollier, David Johnson, Emily Skinner, Satinder Singh and loads more. Check out the BAA shop for the full DVD playlists.

Directed, shot on location in High Park, Toronto and animated by Julian van Mil this VFX spot was created for the Canadian distillery, Maverick who produce TAG Vodka.

"In a lush northern Ontario forest, it's about to rain. A flash of lightning illuminates a curious fish in a babbling-brook. The fish has a distinctive black-and-white colouring. For the first time, this 'little maverick' sees lightning above it, and is inspired to do something no fish has ever done. It leaps out of the water and begins its search for the unknown. Its flight through the forest underbrush leads it toward the sky and into the storm clouds where it discovers the product of its inspiration, TAG No.5 Vodka."

Approximately 1850 marker pen drawings done over just two months make up this incredible animated music video for the We Cut Corners track 'Pirate's Life'. It’s testament that a little hard graft yields brilliant results.

"It is a dead, lightless world, where a little girl, despite her father's renunciation and despair facing the death of his wife, maintains their dream of building a machine powered by magic winds to fly and reach the sun."

After finishing a free-lance project animator Andrew Ruttan,wanting to keep his skills sharp, embarked on this personal project. Ruttan has created this wonderful unofficial music video for Bowie's 'Space Oddity' featuring the illustrations of the brilliant Andrew Kolb.

Spike Jonze's new animated short, 'Mourir Auprès de Toi' (To Die By Your Side), co-directed by Simon Cahn and animated by Sylvain Derosne, made its debut at Annecy last spring. The Animated Review posted a short making of back in May in which you got to see a glimpse of the gorgeous stop-motion felt puppets. Just a few short months later we're now able to watch the film in full...

Following on from 'Dinosaurs' for 16 Bit Kristofer Strom is back with another trippy music video, this time for Delta Heavy and their track 'Hold Me'. It features a demonic looking girl and her zombie cat that fires lasers from its cold dead eyes. It'll definitely give me nightmares.

I'm making this my first official Halloween post of 2011 with more to come as we get nearer to the 31st.

This advert for LEGO seems to have been around for a while, but I saw it for the first time on TV this morning and just had to share it. It features a great stop-motion time-lapse of a father and son team creating half a LEGO house each. The fathers half very normal and sensible whilst the child’s half features space ships, windmills, castle turrets and other architectural madness.

I'm far more impressed by this unofficial title sequence for 'The Adventures Of Tintin' than I have been by any of the preview footage and trailers for the forthcoming Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson 3-D, CGI, mo-cap potential flop. James Curran animated this minimalist sequence managing to reference each one of the 24 original Herge books. Brilliant!

Laura Sicouri is currently studying in the second year of her master degree in Graphic Design at Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. 'The Curious Fate Of Humankind' was directed and animated by Laura, with sound design by fellow Piet Zwart student Kadavre Exquis.

Take a look at the incredible variety of concept artwork for Thurop Van Orman's forthcoming stop-motion feature 'Black Forest'.

"Pip a quirky Pretzel maker must face his greatest fears to find his missing parents. He must journey through the Black Forest. There he finds something even more terrifying: he’s falling in love with his cousin Boozle! (she’s not really his cousin)"

According to Thurop's blog he's currently in negotiations with Cartoon Network and Dreamworks for the project. Not too sure who would suit the project more after seeing these concept pieces and reading the bizarre synopsis above, but regardless of who ends up owning 'Black Forest' with Thurop at the helm it's going to be fantastic.

Rob Ward who has worked freelance for The Mill, Slinky Pictures, Trunk, Passion Pictures, Therapy Films and Agile Films co-animated this spot for Kenzo with Suzanne Deakin. Produced by Ryan Goodwin-Smith at Passion Pictures and Directed by Jo Ratcliffe.

Dvein were invited by the Spanish film director Kike Maíllo to create the main opening titles for 'Eva', his first feature film. 'Eva' is a sci-fi thriller in which Alex, a young scientist, returns to the town where he grew up to complete an unfinished project... creating a boy robot.

"A project that began as a job turned nearly into a personal project due to the creative freedom and the confidence that the director gave us. We were very inspired by the whole aesthetical universe of the film: the snow, the vintage laboratories, the old machinery... and we tried to put all this together in the titles so that they would slowly introduce the viewers to the world of 'Eva'."

The opening credits are stunningly beautiful and the film looks like it's going to be pretty awesome too.

Another animated short from Ecole des Métiers du Cinéma d'Animation, this time from final year student Delphine Dussoubs.

"A young monkey, initiated by his master, will pass his transition to adulthood. He will have to fight fire, metaphor for his fear of growing up, by taming the sound of the sacred djembe, symbol of independence."

Neil Stubbing at LeMob directed and animated this award-winning CG short, titled 'Stopover'. He recently won the audience award at onedotzero_ch for this 3-minute short about an unplanned pit stop for a solitary spaceman, which turns into a close encounter of the third kind.

Pixar co-founder Steve Jobs passed away on the 5th October 2011. He was 56.

Jobs was an innovator and a visionary who saw the potential of animated computer graphics and saved Pixar by buying it from George Lucas in 1986. It was Jobs who fought for the first Pixar CG animated feature film and maintained the working relationship with Disney. Pixar was eventually purchased by Disney in 2006. As Disney's largest stockholder, Jobs was then appointed as a member of the board of directors and named John Lasseter as Chief Creative Officer.

It’s rare to see Steve Jobs speak about his company Pixar, but here’s an interview with Steve, John Lasseter and Charlie Rose in 1995 where he does just that.

For the opening title sequence of Guy Moshe’s film 'Bunraku', Guilherme Marcondes introduces us to the Bunraku alternate universe — from pre-historic animals fighting for survival to its present-day third world war. It’s got a lovely mixed-media style, including the puppeteering technique explored earlier in his short film 'Tyger', also posted below.

Amanda F. Palmer and Jason Webley released the conceptual Evelyn Evelyn album, a sordid tale of musically gifted conjoined twins, back in March of 2010. Just this week they've released a wonderful animated music video for the track 'Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn'.

Visually, it’s a pretty inventive concept with the cartoon character style animation fitting the music perfectly. Brilliant work from director Hoku Uchiyama and lead animator Adam Bolt.

'Paths Of Hate' was directed by Damian Nenow - a graduate of the National Academy of Film, Television and Theatre in Lodz. He's a specialist in many areas related to computer graphics. Currently working for Platige Image studio, where he is directing, editing and animating.

"'Paths Of Hate' is a short tale of beasts, which lie dormant deep in the human soul and push them into the abyss of blind hatred, rage and anger. Chasm that leads to the inevitable destruction and annihilation."

Sarah Wickens 2009 Royal College of Art graduation film 'What Light (Through Yonder Breaks)' had been doing the rounds online recently so I thought I'd mention it too.

Sarah used a fantastically original and fascinating technique to create the short. Using windows and hundreds of hand-cut stencils she created the animation from sunlight as it travelled around her bedroom.

For the second time a Simpsons couch gag has been commissioned from an outside artist. Following on from the Banksy opening credits last year, for this the 23rd season, the guest animator is John Kricfalusi. Cartoon Brew has fascinating behind the scenes info in an in-depth interview with John K about the project.

‘Herself’ magazine is an entirely illustrated bi-annual fashion publication created by Lula, Thorbjørn Ankerstjerne and Fabio Sebastianelli. The launch issue of ‘Herself’ magazine (The Portrait Issue) hits the shelves this week, featuring a "fashion shoot" with Disney Princesses. The magazine also includes some nice "backstage" illustrations of the "shoot" including Pocahontas in make-up and Ariel enjoying a Starbucks.

KORB is a digital filmmaking and design company based in Vilnius, Lithuania. KORB founder Rimantas Lukavicius directed this latest VFX case study in liquid motion.

"Infinity Water is a journey through physical properties of the most abundant compound on Earth's surface. Exploring the interaction between colorless, odorless liquid and music, discovering the infinity encoded in water's memory."

Following on from the brilliant music video created for The Mountain Goats , Brooklyn-based animation studio Awesome and Modest have created this equally fantastic and bizarre video for singer songwriter Dan Wholey. Dan has a new solo EP available via Bandcamp featuring 'Amateur Rocketry'.

More cartoon anatomical dissection sculpture, this time from French artist Nicolas Rubinstein. These images are of works included in the long running exhibition ‘Mickey Is Also A Rat’. Visit Nicolas’ website to see more of the pieces included in the collection.